page_title: Automotive industry in Malaysia
section_title: Assembly Services
hierarchical_section_title: Automotive industry in Malaysia / Automobile production plants in Malaysia / Assembly Services
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: Toyota Corolla
context_page_description: The automotive industry in Malaysia consists of 27 vehicle producers and over 640 component manufacturers. The Malaysian automotive industry is the third largest in Southeast Asia, and the 23rd largest in the world, with an annual production output of over 500,000 vehicles. The automotive industry contributes 4% or RM 40 billion to Malaysia's GDP, and employs a workforce of over 700,000 throughout a nationwide ecosystem.
  The automotive industry in Malaysia traces its origins back to the British colonial era. Ford Malaya became the first automobile assembly plant in Southeast Asia upon its establishment in Singapore in 1926. The automotive industry in post-independence Malaysia was established in 1967 to spur national industrialisation. The government offered initiatives to encourage the local assembly of vehicles and manufacturing of automobile components. In 1983, the government became directly involved in the automotive industry through the establishment of national car company Proton, followed by Perodua in 1993.
context_section_description: Assembly Services Sdn. Bhd. (ASSB) currently operates two assembly plants with a combined annual capacity of 150,000 units. The original ASSB Shah Alam plant was built in 1968, and was later complemented by the all-new ASSB Bukit Raja plant in 2019. ASSB assembles Toyota passenger and commercial vehicles from imported complete knock down (CKD) kits. Assembly Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of UMW Toyota Motor Sdn. Bhd. (UMWT), which is in turn a subsidiary of UMW Holdings (51%), Toyota Motor Corporation (39%) and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (10%). Assembly Services was established in 1967 as Champion Motors (CM), then a subsidiary of the Inchcape group. Champion Motors was renamed Assembly Services in 1975, prior to its acquisition by UMW and Toyota in 1982. The original ASSB plant is among the oldest automobile assembly plants in Malaysia, and one of the few to surpass the 1 million cumulative production milestone.
  Toyota's history in Malaysia can be traced back to the mid 1940s. During the Japanese occupation of Malaya, Toyoda (as Toyota was then known) military trucks were among those produced at the occupied Ford Malaya plant in Singapore. After the war, Toyota returned to Malaysia in the late 1950s, and the sales and reputation of Toyota vehicles grew over course of the 1960s. However, the Toyota brand franchise in Malaysia was constantly beset with obstacles and problems, and the franchise would change hands multiple times before settling with its current owner, the UMW group.
  Toyota's first appointed Malaysian distributor was the Asia Motor Company, founded by the Ph'ng family from Penang. Asia Motor imported the Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ25) into Malaya in August 1957, as well as the Toyota Truck (FA70) the following year. However, Asia Motor's contract soon expired, and in September 1960, Toyota signed a new distributor agreement with Kah Motor, a wholly owned subsidiary of Penang-based Oriental Holdings, chaired by Loh Boon Siew. Kah Motor imported Toyota and Toyopet passenger cars such as the Tiara and Publica for sale in Malaya and Singapore. In December 1963, Kah Motor and Toyota announced plans for a Toyota assembly plant in Butterworth, in response to the Malaysian government's proposal to set up a domestic automotive industry.
  However, various complications occurred in the following years, and in 1967, Toyota signed a separate distributor agreement with Borneo Motors, a subsidiary of London-based Inchcape. That same year, Borneo Motors' sister company, Motor Investments (MIB) commenced construction of the Champion Motors (CM) assembly plant in Shah Alam. In February 1968, the first Malaysian-assembled Toyota models rolled out of the Champion Motors plant. In addition to Toyota models, Champion Motors also assembled Volkswagen, Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz models in its initial years of operations. Although not an official Toyota plant, Champion Motors benefited significantly from Japanese technology transfer by adopting the Toyota Production System. By the 1970s, Toyota models had accounted for the largest share of Champion Motors' production. In July 1975, Champion Motors was renamed Assembly Services (ASSB). Apart from Borneo Motors, Toyota had also granted the franchise rights for Toyota commercial vehicles (Hilux and Land Cruiser) to other Malaysian companies such as Emastorin Motor and Sarin Motor, the latter of which oversaw Land Cruiser assembly at the Sarawak Motor Industries (SMI) plant for the East Malaysian market.
  By the dawn of the 1980s, various complications had brought about yet another franchise transition. In 1981, negotiations between Toyota and United Motor Works (UMW), led by Eric Chia culminated in UMW's appointment as the new Toyota franchise holder in Malaysia. The following year, UMW, through its subsidiary Sejati Motor acquired the Assembly Services plant and Borneo Motors network from Inchcape. By 1983, Toyota operations in both West and East Malaysia were unified, and in 1987, Sejati Motor was renamed UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT). The UMW group has held the Toyota franchis
caption: The first generation Corolla became the first Toyota model to be assembled in Malaysia.[154]
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